Government

A question mark still hangs over the race for Attorney General nearly a week after the election. At present, Mark Herring leads Mark Obenshain by a margin of 117 votes — 1,103,610 to 1,103,493. That will probably result in a recount.

A new face has joined the legislators representing the Bedford area. Terry Austin, a member of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors was successful in his bid to succeed Delegate Lacey Putney representing the 19th House of Delegates District.
“I’m very proud of it,” Austin said of his election. “It’s quite a step going from supervisor to delegate. It’s challenging — it’s such a big district.”

Delegate Kathy J. Byron (R-Bedford County) celebrated a victory this evening, winning her ninth term representing the 22nd District in the Virginia General Assembly. At a gathering of supporters at the Republican Victory Center on Leesville Road in Lynchburg, Byron delivered the following remarks:

Terry Austin, a Botetourt County businessman, was elected, Tuesday, to fill the 19th House of Delegates District seat that Delegate Lacey Putney has held for 52 years. Putney defeated Lewis Medlin Jr., a Bedford County businessman in the two-way race by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin. Austin did his best in Botetourt County, where he got 76 percent of the vote, but he also did well in Bedford County, garnering 71 percent of the vote. Medlin did best at in Allegheny County and Covington. He got 48 percent in Covington and 41 percent in Allegheny County.

Terry McAuliffe won a narrow victory over Ken Cuccinelli Tuesday night to become Virginia's next governor. Although polls a month ago showed McAuliffe with a substantial lead of Cuccinelli, that lead evaporated as Election Day approached. In the end, McAuliffe received 48 percent of the vote to Cuccinelli's 45 percent. Robert Sarvis, who ran as a Libertarian, came in a distant third with 7 percent of the vote.

The Bedford Regional Water Authority (BRWA) came into being with Bedford’s reversion to town status. The reversion took place this year on July 1, but the process of merging the city’s water and sewer department and the Bedford County Public Service Authority (PSA) into one water authority began late last year.

Jonathan Parrish, a 33-year-old graphic designer from Lynchburg, is seeking the 23rd District House of Delegates seat as a Libertarian candidate. He’s a 1999 Jefferson Forest High School graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in communications, with a concentration in graphic design, from Liberty University.